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Eastern Wild Turkey

“Strutting Toms” - Eastern Wild Turkeys (Photo by Maslowski - NWTF)

Introduction The eastern wild turkey, as its name implies, inhabits the eastern half of the United States.

It is the most widely distributed, abundant and hunted turkey of the five subspecies found in

the United States. The subspecies’s name of the eastern wild turkey is silvestris, which

means “forest” turkey. Wild turkeys are very common in the large, fairly contiguous

forestlands of southern Indiana, but also exist at generally lower densities in the relatively

smaller tracts of forestland in northern and central Indiana. In agriculturally dominant

landscapes, the more interconnected the woodlands (available travel corridors), the better the

area is for wild turkeys.

Wild turkeys were extirpated from Indiana at the turn of the last century, but due to the

restoration efforts, they now exist throughout the state where suitable habitat exists. The first

turkey hunting season in Indiana was in 1970 and only allowed in 3 counties with 62 hunters

harvesting 6 birds. In 2006, 88 counties were open to spring hunting and approximately

51,000 hunters harvested 13,193 birds. The 2006 harvest was the highest to date and was an

18% increase over 2005.

WILDLIFE M

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ENT FACT SH

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Restoration Efforts A combination of uncontrolled subsistence and market hunting, along with habitat loss (deforestation),

completely wiped out turkeys in Indiana and other states. Due to restoration efforts by the Indiana

Department of Natural Resources using only wild-trapped birds, Indiana now has huntable populations of

birds across the state with all but Henry County opened to spring turkey hunting in 2007. Restoration

efforts started in 1956 with the most recent release of 156 wild turkeys at nine sites in 2004. A total of

2,895 wild-trapped birds have been released at 185 sites in Indiana.

The key to the restoration success was the use of wild turkeys trapped and transplanted from wild

populations, not domestic game farm or pen-raised birds. Many people think that releasing domestic or

pen raised turkeys is going to help increase the wild turkey population in their area. Pen raised birds do

not have the natural instincts and communication skills to survive in the wild, which is a constant, every

day challenge. Releases of pen-raised birds are not only a waste of time and money because of the poor

survival instincts of the released birds, but are illegal in most states.

Pen-raised birds also pose several threats to wild turkey populations. Pen-raised birds could potentially

introduce new communicable diseases to the wild bird populations. Some of these diseases may not

necessarily lead to the death of wild turkeys, but create living carriers that results in a persistent infection

within a wild flock, permanently lowering the survival or the reproductive capacity of the infected flock.

Pen-raised birds can also pass on inferior genes if inter-breeding with wild birds occurs, resulting in

“genetic pollution”.

Releasing wild-trapped turkeys into a new area (Photo by John Maxwell – IDNR)

General Characteristics Wild turkeys have exceptional hearing and eyesight; can run 15 – 18 miles per hour; and have very

strong wings capable of flying up to 50 – 55 miles per hour. The adult male turkey is called a “gobbler or

tom”. A juvenile or one year old male turkey is called a “jake”. An average adult gobbler weighs about

20 to 23 pounds and a jake will weigh approximately 14 to 16 pounds. The head of a gobbler is normally

naked and all red, but can change to a red, white or blue color instantly, especially during the spring

breeding season. The tail feathers of an eastern wild turkey are tipped with a chestnut brown color and

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their breast feathers are tipped in black and have an iridescent copper to bronze color. The male turkey

has a beard protruding from the middle of his breast area, which is about 8 to10 inches long on the adults

and 3 to 4 inches on the jakes. Multiple beards may also be present on some birds. Male turkeys usually

have leg spurs that can be used to estimate age. A jake’s spur is normally rounded and less than ½ inch

while an adult gobbler generally has more pointed and longer spurs, sometimes up to 1 ½ inches.

Sometimes a gobbler may have only one spur, no spurs or on rare occasions, two spurs on a leg.

The female turkey is called a “hen” and is smaller, usually weighing 8 – 12 pounds. Hens are brown in

color and less brilliant than males. The hen’s head is a grey or slate blue color, so they can be easily

distinguished from the males. Females also lack the caruncles or fleshy protuberances of skin at the base

of the front neck that are bright red on the males. Beards may be present on about 10% of the hens,

however they are very thin and short (6-8 in.) as compared to the gobblers. Spurs on hens are very

uncommon, and if they occur, the spur is very small, poorly developed and usually rounded. Young

turkeys are called “poults” and both sexes resemble the hens in color up to 10 weeks of age. Around 14

weeks, the different sexes can start to be recognized by their size and plumage.

Family Life Turkeys are very social birds and in winter often separate into three distinct groups: adult males

(toms), young males (jakes), and females (hens) of all ages. The reproductive season usually begins in

late February or early March in southern states and late March to early April in the northern states. Late

winter flocks start dividing into smaller groups as the breeding season approaches. Increasing day length

(photoperiod) primarily triggers breeding behavior, with the temperature speeding up or slowing down the

progression of breeding activity. The hen flocks start associating with adult gobblers in loosely organized

spring mating flocks, generally in March in Indiana. Both males and females have a hierarchy or pecking

order within and between flocks and fighting usually occurs for dominance within these flocks.

Group of “jakes” fighting for dominance (Photo by Tom Evans – NWTF)

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The males’ courtship behavior consists of gobbling and strutting with their tails fanned, feathers puffed up

and wings dragging the ground. They will normally start gobbling on the roost to get the hens’ attention,

then fly down and continue gobbling and strutting in early morning, until they have attracted some hens.

The gobblers will follow the hens around all day, mating with as many receptive hens as possible. Most

hens, regardless of age, will breed with a gobbler each spring.

The beginning of the breeding season is the first peak gobbling period and generally occurs in early April

in Indiana. The second peak occurs when most of the hens have been bred and have left the gobblers to

start incubation. In Indiana, the normal peak of incubation occurs in late April to early May. The

dominant gobblers usually do most of the breeding, while the subordinates and jakes follow them around

or stay their distance in their own little groups. Occasionally there may be fights between the dominant

birds and the subordinates and jakes if they try to show any interest in the hens. Once the gobbler has

mated with the hen, he does not take part in any of the nesting and brood rearing activities like some other

male birds do.

The hens become very secretive when they are looking for a nest site. They may still mate again and feed

with the rest of the flock, then sneak away when laying eggs. The nest location is on the ground usually in

low vegetation or brush; against the base of a tree or log; or in the edge of a treetop that allows the hen a

good view, but yet offers protection from predators. Her escape route must be fairly open if disturbed or

attacked by predators. Hen turkeys normally do not defend their nest and eggs, but instead try to escape.

This survival tactic helps to ensure hen survivability and renesting.

A turkey nest is very simple and usually is nothing more than a shallow depression scratched into the

ground, leaves or grass. After the nest is made, the hen sneaks away from the flock for a short period to

lay an egg. When her clutch is completed, which is about 10 to 12 large mottled eggs, she completely

abandons the flock and starts the brooding. Laying an average of 12 eggs usually takes about two weeks

but can extend to three weeks. The hen will cover the eggs with leaves when she leaves the nest each time

during the egg laying period. Continuous incubation usually begins for the first time the evening after the

last egg is laid and lasts about 28 days. The hen may leave the nest for very short periods to eat and drink

and does not cover the eggs up with leaves like she did during egg laying. During incubation, she will roll

the eggs with her chin several times every day. Normally the hen would roost in a tree at night, but after

incubation starts, she roosts on her eggs every night.

Wild turkey nest and eggs (Photo by NWTF)

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Actual hatching begins with pipping, which is where the poult chips around the inside of the eggshell to

free itself. This is the time that the hen clucks or communicates to the poults inside the egg so they will

imprint on her. This vocal communication between the hen and poults is a key to the future survival of the

young and forms strong social bonds. The newly hatched poults are capable of following the hen away

from the nest within 12 to 24 hours. The hatching period is the most critical time for turkeys. A cold,

rainy period can lead to increased poult mortality. The hen will brood and try to protect the young birds

under her wings and body during times like this, but extended periods of cold, wet weather can be

detrimental to many young birds. The normal peak of hatching in Indiana begins around Memorial Day

and through the first week of June.

The young poults learn to suddenly remain motionless or run and hide under the hen when she gives the

alarm or danger call. They are also constantly feeding by pecking at food items, a behavior that they learn

from the hen. They are able to fly short distances by the end of the second week and are able to roost in

low trees by the third week. Being able to roost in trees at night or suddenly fly up into them greatly

improves their survival because they are able to get away from ground predators. This is a major

development in their lives and their chance of survival doubles.

Male and female poults begin to look different in body size and plumage at 14 weeks old. Poults start

sparring with each other and have formed separate pecking orders among themselves. However, the hen

is still the boss in the family group until all the juvenile males have finally left to form their own social

unit. By fall, the pecking order or hierarchy has been established and the young flocks start inter-acting

with other neighboring groups. The poults are now through growing by the beginning of winter, and the

flocks are separated by age and sex in preparation for the winter season. This will then complete a full

years cycle in the life of the wild turkey, which will be repeated many times to ensure that their

populations continue to exist.

Food and Water Wild turkeys take advantage of different foods throughout the year, depending on their nutritional

needs and the food that is available. An adult turkey’s diet consists of about 90% plant matter and 10%

insects on an annual basis. Young poults mainly eat insects during the first 4-6 weeks of life. Insects are

very high in protein that helps the poults grow fast and develop strong wing muscles. Later on, plant

matter, soft mast (fruit, berries) and hard mast (nuts, seeds) make up most of the poult’s diet, especially in

late fall and winter when the insects are gone.

Although wild turkeys are traditionally considered a woodland bird, they are very adaptable to finding

food in adjacent croplands and grasslands. Woodlands and grasslands provide foods like nuts (acorns,

beechnuts, hazelnut, hickory), fruits (wild grapes, crabapple, black cherry), berries (blackberry, raspberry,

dogwood, elderberry, hawthorn), tubers (nutsedge), seeds, grasses (timothy, orchardgrass, ryegrass, warm

season grasses), green leaves, legumes, buds and insects (grasshoppers, crickets, beetles). The crop lands

offer not only insects during the growing seasons, but the “waste” grain left after harvest provides an

important source of winter food. Many times, turkeys are seen feeding in crop fields and usually are

falsely accused of crop damage. This is called “perceived depredation”. Just because wild turkeys are

readily seen in fields, does not mean they are doing crop damage. In most cases, the turkeys are eating

waste grain, weed seeds and insects. In fact, they are beneficial to the farmer by eating some of the crop

damaging insects. A 2 year crop depredation research project was conducted in the agricultural region of

northcentral Indiana by the Department of Forestry and Natural Resources, Purdue University. Damage to

corn and soybeans by wild turkey, white-tailed deer, raccoons and other vertebrates was surveyed and

quantified from May through October in 2003 and 2004. Raccoons and white-tailed deer were responsible

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for >97% of the damage to corn (87% and 10%, respectively), whereas white-tailed deer (61%) and

groundhogs (38%) were responsible for nearly all damage to soybean plants. Although turkeys were

relatively common on the study area and turkey sign was evident in several fields, no depredation events

were attributed to wild turkey (Humberg et al. 2005). A 2 year Wisconsin DNR study was also conducted

in southwestern Wisconsin that showed similar results to the Indiana depredation project. More than 90%

of the corn that wild turkeys consumed in agricultural fields was waste grain and during summer, poults

ate primarily insects (77%).

Water is also important for turkeys and is usually readily available. Ponds, lakes, rivers, creeks, puddles,

wetlands, springs and seeps provide a constant water source so it is normally not a limiting factor. Grit is

also another very important component of a turkey’s diet. Grit is readily consumed to help grind up

harder foods like nuts and grain.

Cover

Cover refers to any type of habitat that provides for nesting, roosting, brood-rearing, escape and shelter

or protection. Forests with mature mast-producing trees/shrubs and a diversity of understory vegetation

provides various cover requirements for the wild turkey.

1. Nesting Cover

Wild turkeys nest on the ground usually in hardwood or mixed-forested stands at the base of trees or

logs, under brush or slash piles, in thickets of briars or downed trees and branches. However, hens will

also readily nest in hayfields, unmowed utility right-of-ways, old fields or “rough areas” and idle fields of

weeds or grass.

2. Roosting Cover

Wild turkeys roost mainly in trees, except when the hen is incubating and until the young poults are old

enough to fly up into trees. Hens with young poults (< three weeks old) roost on the ground under large

trees in forests with dense understory of young trees and shrubs, downed trees, rock outcrops and brushy

vegetation. Good roost habitat is comprised of mature, open-crowned trees that have a trunk diameter of

14” or greater and have fairly horizontal limbs. Mature hardwoods, pines, spruces, cypress and

cottonwoods provide good roosting cover. Conifers are used quite often in winter and inclement weather

because they provide more thermal protection than deciduous trees.

3. Brood-rearing Cover

Good brood-rearing cover plays a vital role in the survival of poults during the critical first eight

weeks of life when normal poult mortality to natural causes is around 50-60%, even in years of good

production. While most people tend to focus on the availability of winter foods, the availability of quality

brood rearing habitat can often be the weak link or “limiting factor” in determining turkey population

levels in area that otherwise looks suitable for wild turkeys. Open riparian woodlands, savannas, forest

openings, grasslands, crop fields, old fields or “rough areas” and utility right-of-ways that provide both a

diversity of herbaceous cover and abundant insect foods, are heavily utilized by poults during the summer.

These areas provide protection and high protein food for fast body development of the young poults.

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Hen with poults feeding in clover field (Photo by Steve Backs – IDNR)

Management Practices

Many of the management practices used to attract wild turkeys to your land also benefit many other

types of wildlife and vice versa. Every animal needs four basic components to survive: food, water, cover

(shelter) and space (territory). Wild turkeys are considered “habitat generalists” because these highly

mobile and wide ranging birds can often find their life needs in a variety of land use types. The annual

home range of a wild turkey flock is 1-4 square miles or 640-2,000 acres. Habitat management for wild

turkeys needs to be considered on a landscape scale that often includes whole townships, several miles of

a major river or stream drainage and possible the entire regional area of the state.

An individual ownership of 40 or even a couple hundred acres may represent a small piece in a much

larger puzzle of available habitat supporting wild turkeys in a township or county. Yet, even small

ownership of 20-40 acres could be the critical key piece of habitat to a wild turkey population occupying

relatively thin habitat along river or stream drainages. A small tract of land containing a mixture of the

necessary components may support wild turkeys better than a larger area lacking one or more needed

habitat components. Landowners with small acreage that contain one or more of the habitat requirements

can manage for turkeys if the adjacent properties provide the other habitat components needed to sustain

wild turkeys.

Ownerships or pieces of habitat also vary in importance during certain seasons of the year. During the

winter months, large flocks of wild turkeys may traditionally be observed in a particular area or on one

ownership. These large winter flocks may actually represent a concentration of smaller flocks that will

disperse come spring to find suitable nesting and brood-rearing habitat on smaller ownerships, some

distance from the area of the winter flock. The most critical aspect of wild turkey management is

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maintaining a good interspersion or arrangement of different habitat types needed by wild turkey flocks

during the 4 seasons of the year. Suitable foraging, nesting, brood-rearing and roosting cover along with a

water source located within close proximity of each other, are essential to attract wild turkeys and sustain

existing populations in an area.

The first key step to good wildlife management is finding out which habitat components for a particular

species or species group are missing in an area of interest. Examine your land by walking around to

determine what aspects of turkey habitat are missing. A good aerial photograph of your property and the

surrounding areas is a very valuable tool because you can see the types, location and extent of habitat and

how your land fits in the overall landscape puzzle of potential turkey habitat. Aerial photographs show

features like woods, openings, fields, travel corridors and stream drainages all at the same time from one

vantage point. Landowners can also contact their local IDNR wildlife biologist to provide technical

assistance. Often this may entail an on-site visit with you to help evaluate your property and discuss your

desired land management objectives.

After determining the habitat need priorities, you need to assess what management recommendations are

within your capabilities (financial, time, equipment and other resources). The IDNR wildlife biologist can

help assess your capabilities and possibly provide information regarding other resources (e.g., other

sources of technical information, cost-share or Farm Bill incentive programs) that might help you better

accomplish your habitat management objectives.

The next step is to implement various practices that will provide or enhance the availability of the

necessary food, water, cover or space. Sometimes you can accomplish your management objectives in a

relatively short time period, but more often it may take a number of years to fully accomplish your

management objectives. Your wildlife biologist can help you determine management priorities and an

estimate of the expected time before you begin to see the results of your efforts.

The final step is to evaluate the results of your management efforts, what practices were beneficial and

those practices that appeared to fall short of your desired objectives. Again, your district wildlife biologist

can help you make that assessment and determine whether or not changes are needed. Sometimes only

additional time and patience are required to eventually observe the desired results. The wildlife biologist

may also have some knowledge of factors outside the influence of your property that affected the apparent

results of your management practices (e.g., turkey production trends) or have knowledge regarding new

management practices to share with you.

Beneficial Management Practices for Wild Turkeys

1. Create and/or maintain openings, access lanes and right-of-ways. Properly managed and

maintained openings are important to wild turkeys because they provide nesting, feeding and brood-

habitat. Managed wildlife-openings are an important source of abundant insects, critical to young poults

in the spring and summer. Openings include pastures, hayfields, cropland, orchards, idled or fallow

fields, access lanes, green fire lanes and utility right-of-ways (ROW). Rotational plantings of

grass/legume mixtures, mowing and light disking will help keep these areas open and from growing out of

early successional habitat. Cooperative opportunities to maintain a ROW in some type of wildlife opening

management practice exist in some areas. These cooperative partnerships often reduce wildlife

management costs for the landowner, while reducing the utility company’s ROW maintenance costs in

removing trees and large shrubs through periodic spraying or mowing.

Optimum size for managed openings is 1 to 3 acres, but the size is often dictated by the surrounding

habitat and the type of management practice used. Linear openings should be at least 50 to 100 feet wide

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to allow enough sunlight to reach the ground. Openings should be distributed throughout the property and

connected with travel lanes maintained in some type of herbaceous/shrub mosaic. If your property is

mostly wooded, a minimum of 10% should be maintained in permanent openings. Often just a simple

“minimum maintenance” practice for permanent openings through periodic mowing or bush-hogging of

native vegetation every 3-5 years with some strip disking will greatly enhance an area for wild turkeys and

other wildlife. It is important to delay mowing until after July 15th, preferable after August 15

th and

during the dormant season, to avoid destroying nests or killing young wild turkeys.

Opening in woods planted to a grass/legume mix (Photo by Tom Hewitt – IDNR)

2. Improve your existing woods. Carrying out timber stand improvement (TSI) by selectively removing

non-mast producing trees and shrubs will enhance your woodlot. Openings in the tree canopy allows

sunlight to reach the ground, which encourages grasses, forbs and other early successional plants. An

active timber management plan that includes timber harvests can be used to improve woodlands by

providing temporary openings, vegetated skid roads and encouraging a diversity of forest successional

stages. When you consult your district or private consulting forester about managing your timber, be sure

to express your wildlife management objectives. Timber management practices often can be tailored to

incorporate your wildlife desires of increased habitat diversity and encouraging mast (hard and soft)

producing species without significantly reducing, perhaps even increase, your timber revenues.

3. Maintain or plant mast producing trees, shrubs and conifers. Mast refers to soft or hard fruit,

berries, nuts or seeds that some trees produce. Examples of some very good soft mast producing trees and

shrubs to plant for turkeys and other wildlife are dogwoods, crabapple, persimmon, blackberries,

raspberries, elderberry, chokeberry, sumac, black cherry, wild grape and plum. Very good hard mast

trees and shrubs to plant or maintain are oaks, hickories, beech, and hazelnut. These trees and shrubs will

provide food and cover throughout the year. It usually takes several years before trees and shrubs produce

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mast, so the sooner they are planted, the sooner they will produce food. Conifers (pine, spruce and cedar)

provide protective cover during adverse weather and are often used in the winter months.

4. Riparian Zones. Riparian zones (streamside woody habitat) provide wild turkeys with roosting and

brood-rearing cover, food and water sources. Landowners should leave a buffer of managed trees and

vegetation at least 100 feet on either side of streams and rivers. Also, encourage the existence of mast

producing trees and shrubs in these streamside strips and protect the riparian areas from livestock grazing.

5. Springs and Seeps. Springs and seeps provide a reliable source of water and some food and cover

value if grasses and mast producing shrubs are allowed to grow around them. Springs and seeps often

provide open, snow free areas during winter months which are used by turkeys as feeding sites. These

areas also need to be protected from livestock grazing.

6. Plant Warm and Cool Season Grasses and Forbs. Warm season grasses (native grasses) are bunch

grasses that provide open pathways at ground level between the clumps of tall grasses that provide a

closed canopy of overhead cover to protect hens and poults from aerial predators. A mosaic of warm

season grass patches or strips adjacent to cool season grasses or hayfields will provide quality wild turkey

nesting and brood-rearing habitat. Planting a mixture of warm season grasses like Big Bluestem, Little

Bluestem, Indiangrass, Switchgrass and Sideoats Grama will provide excellent cover and food in the form

of seeds and also attract many types of insects. Some good cool season grass and legumes to plant would

be a mixture of clovers (alsike, red, ladino, white dutch), alfalfa, orchardgrass, timothy, wildrye (Virginia

and Canada) or redtop.

7. Prescribed Burning. Prescribed or controlled burning is the practice of intentionally using fire to

influence habitat to achieve specific management goals. It can be used to set back the succession of plant

growth, prepare land for planting, remove logging debris, prevent wildfires, or to control unwanted plant

species. Fire also stimulates certain plants and trees to grow, prevents leaf litter from building up and

opens the forest floor to promote new growth of valuable shrubs and forbs. Prescribed fire, along with

strip disking, promotes early successional plant species like annual weeds and grasses. Wild turkeys and

many other birds use early successional habitats that result from periodic prescribed burning for nesting

and raising young.

Prescribed burning warm season grasses (Photo by Alger Van Hoey – IDNR)

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8. Food plots. Most wildlife species find adequate food during daily movements, however, many areas

will benefit by the landowner providing additional food by planting food plots. Food plots are small strips

or blocks of a grain crop like corn and sorghum or legumes that are planted in the spring and not harvested

in the fall. They are left standing and provide a supplemental food source, especially in severe winters.

Grain and legume food plots are utilized by many types of wildlife, all year long. Even in mild winters,

food plots are used because of availability. Legume food plots (lespedeza, soybeans, cowpeas, partridge

pea, alfalfa and clovers) provide food and nesting cover and harbor a wide variety of insects. Legumes are

a rich and highly palatable source of protein and green browse. The corn and grain sorghum plots are

especially important in deep snow since the ears of corn or sorghum seed heads are standing up out of the

snow. Most of the other food (nuts, seeds, berries) is on the ground and buried by the snow, so wildlife

have to use more energy to dig down to find it. Sunflowers can be planted for a food plot, but only if

some corn or sorghum plots are also planted. Sunflowers are high in protein and are eaten by many

species of mammals and birds. The only disadvantage to a sunflower food plot is the seeds ripen and fall

to the ground in the fall, so they would be buried under the snow. Food plots should be planted along the

edge of different cover types like woods, brushy fencerows, overgrown areas, or grassy fields. Food plots

can be used to separate warm season grass blocks and then used as firebreaks when doing prescribed

burning. Plant only half of the food plot strip to corn, sorghum or sunflowers each year and allow the

annual weeds to grow in the other half. Rotate the strips every other year because a food plot is good for

two years, with the second year consisting of some left over standing grain and beneficial annual weeds.

Predators

Nest predators such as crows, raccoons, skunks, opossums, domestic dogs and cats and human

disturbances are the biggest threat to successful hatching. Adult wild turkeys have few natural enemies.

Although coyotes, bobcats, foxes, hawks, eagles and owls may kill some adult birds, turkey densities are

seldom significantly affected. Wild turkey numbers have increased over the last two decades, while at the

same time, some predator populations have also increased. Certain predators may need to be controlled in

specific instances, but the long term solution to maintaining wild turkey populations at huntable levels will

be dependent not on predator control, but on mans’ activities and good habitat management.

Hunting

The hunting of wild turkeys is a byproduct of well established wild turkey populations. Hunting

provides much enjoyable recreational opportunity for those who pursue the challenge of hunting wild

turkeys during the spring and fall hunting seasons. The objective of science based harvest management is

to maximize hunter opportunities with a satisfactory hunting experience, without adversely affecting the

long-term population levels of wild turkeys.

Spring turkey hunting in Indiana is limited to one male or bearded bird. This conservative harvest

approach has allowed the continued growth and expansion of the wild turkey populations while

maintaining a relatively stable supply of adult gobblers, desirable by most hunters. Turkey hunting in the

fall enables the DNR to provide additional hunting opportunities in certain areas where turkey numbers

are higher. Indiana’s first ever fall season was held from October 1-23, 2005 with a bag limit of one bird

of either sex. Gun and archery hunting was allowed in all or part of 26 counties (southern part of state)

and only archery hunting was allowed in all or part of 35 counties. Hunters harvested 716 birds in 53 of

the 60 counties open to hunting during Indiana’s first modern day fall wild turkey hunting season.

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“Teaming up” to hunt turkeys (Photo by NWTF)

Additional Sources of Information on Wild Turkeys

Wildlife Research and Management Notes – The Indiana Division of Fish and Wildlife periodically

publishes the findings of wildlife population and harvest surveys along with research studies. The notes

can be found at:

http://www.in.gov/dnr/fishwild/publications/notes/notes.htm

Purdue University Wildlife Extension Services – Purdue University’s School of Forestry and Natural

Resources maintains web pages that provides information on wildlife habitat, wildlife damage and other

sources of information that applies to wildlife in general as well as wild turkeys at:

http://www.agriculture.purdue.edu/fnr/wildlife/

National Wild Turkey Federation (NWTF) – The NWTF is a not-for-profit organization dedicated to the

conservation of the American wild turkey. You can get additional technical information at:

www.nwtf.org.

Related Habitat Management Fact Sheets:

Forest Habitat Improvement

Forest Openings

Woodland Edge Enhancement

Tree and Shrub Corridors

Riparian Zones

Water Hole Development

Strip Disking

Grain Food Plots

Legume Food Plots

Legume Interseeding

Warm Season Grass Establishment

Cool Season Grass Establishment

Prescribed Burning

Habitat Management Fact Sheets can be found at: http://www.in.gov/dnr/fishwild/hunt/facts.htm

Prepared by the Indiana Department of Natural Resources, Division of Fish and Wildlife. For up-to-date information concerning

the Indiana Division of Fish and Wildlife, or for information on the location of your District Wildlife Biologist, visit our website

at www.wildlife.IN.gov

January 2007